10 Best Animal Crossing Island Ideas for When You’re Stuck

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been out for over two years! At this point, every player has probably reached a moment where they want to flatten their island (or restart the entire game) and try something new with their decoration choices and overall island theme. 

Players also want something fresh and original when thinking up new ways to decorate their island. Let's face it, a lot of themes have been done a thousand times over. 

But don’t worry about creating a forestcore island for the millionth time or become discouraged at the thought of playing a game that appears to have nothing new to offer. I have compiled several unique Animal Crossing island ideas that contain that extra flair that players can make their own.

This theme is great for those who are huge fans of the space and ocean theme, most commonly associated with fantastical settings. 

It can be combined for a fairycore-inspired look or simply have a space and ocean aesthetic. The video above showcases an island that features items and small area ideas to use for the best effect.

That’s the beauty of this theme: it can be anything you want, and there are many items to choose from that make it highly customizable.

Also, the variety of water terraforming, such as moon-shaped lakes, can add a special touch to the island.

A mountain-themed island really gives players a chance to turn land terraforming into an art. 

Like the space and ocean island idea, this theme can be combined with other ideas to create beautiful islands. 

A lot of players use terraforming to create “lookout” areas, where a hiking trail up a mountain leads to a beautiful view or a place to stargaze and admire the ocean. Flower fields, waterfalls, and goat villagers really shine with this theme as well.

This one is perhaps the most unusual Animal Crossing island idea on the list. 

Adding a mythical touch to any island is worth a shot for those who love to tell stories, and the game offers a wide array of mythical items to craft or buy. 

There can be different areas on the island to display a well-known myth, book, movie, etc. or the whole island can depict various scenes of the same story like one big popup book. 

There are endless exciting options with this one, and you don’t have to stick with just myths: this idea can expand to the overall genre, too. I’ve seen many well-made horror-themed islands.

Feel like using the sand path tool? Why not use it on the whole island? 

This idea is great for those who want something much different from the usual forestcore or junglecore islands, for sure. 

Creating a desert island is great for those who want a western town or those who want to recreate one of the beautiful African habitats full of gazelle, lions, and bonsai trees. Or maybe you just want to have a huge sandbox to place sandcastles everywhere, that’s fine too - all Animal Crossing island ideas are awesomely customizable.

I’ve seen some gorgeous towns based on this theme. And if you have the DLC, you can change the villagers’ houses to fit whatever coastal aesthetic theme you’re aiming for. Since the game is all about living near water, it contains many coastal-related items to use, like the lighthouse, for example. Also, there are many seashell-related recipes that offer some nice furniture to use, from a seashell rug to a clam music box and more.

Players usually take the meadow theme and use it in the “no terraforming” challenge, which is a great place to start if you’re out of ideas. 

If that’s not your thing, that’s okay too; that’s how flexible this theme is. A meadowcore island can be absolutely anything, from huge sparse areas of land to a small field full of flowers (say that three times fast) or even just glowing moss. 

Those pesky weeds also come in handy for this one and add their own touch to the meadow vibe as they grow taller. Luckily, the game has several deer villagers that would go well with this theme, too.

Needless to say, the common kidcore islands inspired this Animal Crossing island idea. If you’re not familiar with the term “kawaii,” it means “cute” in Japanese and has spawned an adorable aesthetic that many people use in just about anything nowadays, especially gaming. 

It’s the perfect theme for an island since a lot of items in the game are cute and can be customized in a cutesy pastel color that the aesthetic is widely-known for. This theme can be combined with kidcore to make for a beautiful and colorful island overall. There are also a lot of adorable and creative designs found in the custom design library, which can only be accessed if you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

This theme idea is pretty self-explanatory. There are players out there that have used this theme in some neat ways to create surprisingly difficult mazes and timed mini-games. Maze and mini-game islands are meant to be temporary, I’m sure, but it does mix up gameplay for a while. If you’re into contests, it can be great to host a maze or game day that gives away highly valuable prizes, such as Nook Mile tickets or star bits.

Ever wanted to incorporate more water terraforming on your island? This idea is worth a try. Creating neat water-surrounded pathways to villagers’ houses and cleverly placed bridges (in-game or custom designed) can make for a gorgeous terraformed island overall. 

I’ve seen some players combine this theme with mountaincore and it turned out nicely. Some island area ideas include custom boat docks, fishing spots, picnic areas, and more.

Maybe the best idea is to let your villager lineup decide your overall theme, or maybe this will lead to a “mixed bag” of ideas for different areas of an island that has no overarching theme. 

If you have vastly different villagers to cater to, like Judy, Fauna, and Stitches, all at the same time, it can create some interesting visuals for your island. 

For instance, Judy could live in a fairycore or kawaii-themed mountain spot, Fauna could live in a flowery meadow, and Stitches could live in a kidcore forest. Their designs and personalities leave room for a lot of creative island areas!

To sum it all up, no island theme is set in stone and can be customized to any player’s liking. There are so many ideas out there that make for some awesome and stunning islands. These ideas showcase what creative pursuits are possible in the game; it’s just a matter of picking one and adding your own personal flair to it. What will be your next Animal Crossing island idea?